Social Justice
A march for racial justice and against police killings moves down Market Street at Van Ness Avenue on June 19, 2020. Brian Howey / Public Press

Demonstrators March Through San Francisco to Mark Juneteenth

06.19.2020
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Hundreds marched through San Francisco on Friday afternoon to mark Juneteenth, protesting police killings and calling for racial justice. The San Francisco Public Press followed the demonstration, which made its way from the Ferry Building to City Hall and then on to the school district building. Read updates from the march below, and hear a compilation of reflections from demonstrators in this recent episode of our radio program and podcast, “Civic.”

4:25 p.m.

With some 250 protesters still in front of the school district administrative building on Franklin Street, Indigenous dancers performed a ceremony while protesters sat and knelt. Lexi Hall sang “Lean On Me” with some demonstrators occasionally chiming in for the chorus. 

“I think it’s definitely important for the youth to be a voice for the Black Lives Matter movement,” said Hall. “And we all came together, all of the creatives in San Francisco to put on a show and celebrate Juneteenth for the city.”

Hall’s partner, 19-year-old rapper Xanubis, had performed several times at the march that day. Xanubis and Lexi Hall.

Social Justice
Out in the Bay producers

LGBTQ Show Returns, Explores Lessons for Activists

06.17.2020
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As San Francisco marks the 50th Anniversary of the first LGBTQ rights march, the program “Out in the Bay” is returning to the air on KSFP, a radio station created by the San Francisco Public Press. “Out in the Bay” returns after a four-year hiatus. It ran weekly on public radio station KALW from 2004 to 2016, covering a pivotal period in the LGBTQ rights movement that saw the legalization of same-sex marriage, the enactment of hate-crime legislation and major advances in the rights of transgender people. Mel Baker, producer and contributor for “Civic,” spoke with “Out in the Bay” founding producer and host Eric Jansen and producer Truc Nguyen about the show and the parallels between the LGBTQ rights movement and the broader fight for civil rights. The brutal, homophobic murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998 energized nationwide protests against hate crimes, Jansen said.

Economy & Business
Shayla Jamerson, founder of events company SoOakland, launched a fundraiser for black-owned businesses in Oakland that has brought in more than $300,000. It's just one of several such community efforts; collectively, local groups have raised more than $1 million. Courtesy SoOakland

Community Efforts Raise Nearly $1 Million for Black-Owned Oakland Businesses

06.12.2020
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As damage from looting and property destruction added to the financial pain of black-owned businesses already hurting from the coronavirus shutdown, Oakland nonprofits, business leaders and community members swung into action, collectively raising almost $1 million to help those businesses recover. Two of the biggest fundraisers were launched by black women – one a business owner and one a community member acting on her own initiative – who together raised almost $400,000.

“Civic” Podcast

Protesters Weigh In on Defunding Police

06.10.2020
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At the demonstrations against police brutality and racism that have brought thousands to San Francisco’s streets in recent weeks, many protesters have carried signs carrying a demand to “defund the police.” The uprising sparked by the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has turned a spotlight on this proposal, and locally, Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Shamann Walton have announced they are developing a proposal for something in that vein. How much money exactly is in play is unclear, but Walton and Breed have indicated they intend to redirect a portion of the SFPD’s nearly $612 million budget to benefit the city’s African American community. At a June 9 protest in front of City Hall, the crowd cheered and clapped when Breed brought up that proposal in her remarks. “Civic” spoke with people demonstrating about whether the idea of defunding the police department appealed to them, how drastically they would reduce funding, and what they would like to see money reinvested in. “I think that the defunding is different than reform.

Law & Justice
Lydia Chavez

Appointees to Police Oversight Body Lack Reform Chops, Legislators Find

06.08.2020
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Last Monday, for seven hours, the Rules Committee of the Board of Supervisors met to grill two of Mayor London Breed’s nominees for the city’s Police Commission, Nancy Tung and Geoffrey Gordon-Creed. The commission acts as an oversight body for the police department. Lydia Chávez, executive editor of Mission Local, covered the meeting and noted that in the current climate of protests against police brutality and advocacy for reform, the supervisors found the candidates inadequately prepared to answer questions about local topics in police reform. The supervisors on this committee voted a motion to their colleagues on the full board, which is slated to vote on whether or not to reject the appointees Tuesday, June 9. The meeting begins at 2 p.m. and this is item 13.

Social Justice
rubinperkins_adj.jpg

Voices from the March: ‘If You’re Black, You’re at Risk’

06.05.2020
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Rubin Perkins, a 21-year-old black man, joined a crowd of thousands at Mission High School on Wednesday with a sign proclaiming his demands. “I want to live beyond 25. I want to raise a family, and I want to live,” he said, echoing his hand-lettered cardboard sign. “I don’t feel like that’s asking too much.”

Over the last 10 days, marchers thronging the streets of San Francisco to protest the police killings of black men like George Floyd and other people of color have hammered at a central theme: Their fight against racism and police brutality is a matter of survival. In conversation with the Public Press over the last week, they shared their hopes that this moment will cause lasting change, their fears that it will not and concerns about how the COVID-19 pandemic raises the stakes for speaking up in the first place.